The MASC fills a void in the instrumentation that is currently available for studying precipitation. It automatically measures fallspeed, while photographing in freefall particles with ten times more detail than any other similar instrument available to date.

Professor Tim Garrett and research associate Cale Fallgatter, from the Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of Utah, are working with Alta Ski Area to photograph snowflakes at a study plot in the Collins Gulch area.